Military, law enforcement, emergency medical and firefighter personnel, by definition, are required to regularly participate in high-risk events. As a result, these individuals are, unfortunately, too often subjected to injuries sustained in the line of duty that require such personnel to be lifted, moved, carried and/or evacuated from the high-risk event area. In many instances, injuries sustained during such emergency or critical incident situations require immediate attention, action or response. Military units comprising multiple personnel will generally carry only one or two foldable frame-type stretchers depending on the size of the particular military unit. Medical personnel within the military unit, especially in combat or under battlefield conditions, generally must carry the unit's stretchers on their persons which, unfortunately, limits space that could be better utilized for life-saving fluids, medications and other life-saving items or equipment. Law enforcement officers and firefighter personnel typically do not carry stretchers or evacuation equipment of any type on their persons during emergency or critical incident situations. Civilian emergency medical units will generally have one or two stretchers available to the unit's medical staff when responding to a critical care incident or crisis. Should one or more of these critical incident personnel become injured or incapacitated during the response to whatever the critical incident or crisis situation happens to be, there may not be enough available stretchers to carry the injured or incapacitated personnel away from the crisis site to a place where medical treatment may be safely administered or to a place where motorized transportation can take the injured or incapacitated personnel out of harms way and/or to a place where medical treatment may be administered.
Individuals who participate in high-risk events or activities such as mountain climbing, spelunking, rappelling or hunting are also subject to debilitating injuries as a result of their participation in their particular sport or activity. Injuries to such individuals quite often occur in areas which are remote or that have very limited vehicular accessibility thus requiring said injured individuals to be carried or transported by other personnel via stretcher and/or removed from the remote area via helicopter or other evacuative means.
It would be expedient; therefore, to provide a collapsible, fully functional, self-contained, personal field stretcher, which can be incorporated into the clothing or equipment worn by critical incident personnel, or by other persons who may be participating in high-risk events or activities, for use in lifting, carrying or transporting such personnel or persons, when they become injured or incapacitated in the line of duty or injured as a result of their participation in a chosen high-risk event or activity.
Known devices, such as those disclosed in applicant's information disclosure statement submitted herewith, are not without undesirable features, disadvantages, disabilities and/or limitations.
The present invention is a substantial modification and significant improvement over known designs and incorporates unique and novel design features, which distinguish the invention over existing art.